Validity assessment of SAMOSA retracking for fully-focused SAR altimeter waveforms

We demonstrate in this work how we can take advantage of known unfocused SAR (UF-SAR) retracking methods (e.g. the physical SAMOSA model) for retracking of fully-focused SAR (FF-SAR) waveforms. Our insights are an important step towards consistent observations of sea surface height, significant wave height and backscatter coefficient (wind speed) with both UF-SAR and FF-SAR. This is of particular interest for SAR altimetry in the coastal zone, since coastal clutter may be filtered out more efficiently in the high-resolution FF-SAR waveform data, which has the potential to improve data quality. We implemented a multi-mission FF-SAR altimetry processor for Sentinel-3 (S3) and Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich (S6), using a back-projection algorithm, and analysed ocean waveform statistics compared to multilooked UF-SAR. We find for Sentinel-3 that the averaged power waveforms of UF-SAR and FF-SAR over ocean are virtually identical, while for Sentinel-6 the FF-SAR power waveforms better resemble the UF-SAR zero-Doppler beam. We can explain and model the similarities and differences in the data via theoretical considerations of the waveform integrals. These findings suggest to use the existing UF-SAR SAMOSA model for retracking S3 FF-SAR waveforms but the SAMOSA zero-Doppler beam model for S6 FF-SAR waveforms, instead. Testing the outlined approach over short track segments, we obtain range biases between UF-SAR and FF-SAR lower than 2 mm and significant wave height biases lower than 5 cm.     

A multiple-CubeSat constellation for integrated earth observation and marine/air traffic monitoring

CubeSats has evolved from purely educational tools, to useful platforms for technology demonstration and many practical applications. This paper reviews a CubeSat constellation mission involving 3 CubeSats launched into orbit on Sep. 25th 2015, aiming to demonstrate the integrated application of low-cost CubeSat technologies with distributed payloads using a group of satellites, as well as to demonstrate several new technologies. The mission scenario, the satellite system design, the innovative technologies and instruments or devices used on the CubeSats and the in-orbit experimental results and the payload data analysis, as well as some experiences and lessons learned, are presented and summaried.     

MBSE发展趋势与中国探月工程并行协同论证

中国月球探测面临新发展态势,给月球探测任务的规划论证、总体设计、系统研制和在轨探测等提出了更高要求,当前基于模型的系统工程、并行工程等新方法及新手段受到广泛关注.本文从MBSE(基于模型的系统工程)流程、方法、工具及应用层面对MBSE的现状进行研究,分析其发展趋势.结合中国探月工程任务需求和面临的挑战,设计中国探月工程...     

GEO-UAV空天双基SAR二维分辨能力分析

收发平台分置于地球同步轨道（GEO）和无人机（UAV）的GEO-UAV空天双基合成孔径雷达（SAR）系统能够实现对重点观测区域高精度、高时相的观测,二维分辨能力为其重要的系统指标。针对GEO-UAV空天双基SAR的二维分辨能力进行了分析:首先,基于梯度法给出了空天双基SAR矢量化的二维分辨率的计算方法;其次,基于GEO-UAV空天双基SAR的构型计算了其距离分辨率、方位分辨率以及二维分辨矢量夹角;最后,基于系统的二维分辨能力提出了GEO-UAV空天双基SAR的构型设计准则,通过点目标仿真对该准则的有效性进行了验证。所提设计准则能够为GEO-UAV空天双基SAR的系统设计提供有力支撑。      

加拿大移动服务系统地面遥操作模式综述

针对未来我国空间站机械臂地面遥操作任务需求,分析目前国际空间站上加拿大移动服务系统（Mobile Satellite Services,MSS）地面遥操作的系统设计和安全性问题。介绍了MSS的系统构成,分析了MSS地面遥操作需求,对比分析了在轨操作和地面遥操作模式的不同,以及地面遥操作的约束条件;介绍了MSS地面遥操作过程中的任务规划、任务执行和在轨调试;总结了对我国空间站机械臂遥操作的启示,为从事空间站机械臂地面遥操作的科研人员提供一定的借鉴和参考。     

Preliminary mission profile of Hera’s Milani CubeSat

CubeSats offer a flexible and low-cost option to increase the scientific and technological return of small-body exploration missions. ESA’s Hera mission, the European component of the Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA) international collaboration, plans on deploying two CubeSats in the proximity of binary system 65803 Didymos, after arrival in 2027. In this work, we discuss the feasibility and preliminary mission profile of Hera’s Milani CubeSat. The CubeSat mission is designed to achieve both scientific and technological objectives. We identify the design challenges and discuss design criteria to find suitable solutions in terms of mission analysis, operational trajectories, and Guidance, Navigation, & Control (GNC) design. We present initial trajectories and GNC baseline, as a result of trade-off analyses. We assess the feasibility of the Milani CubeSat mission and provide a preliminary solution to cover the operational mission profile of Milani in the close-proximity of Didymos system.     

Inter-agency comparison of TanDEM-X baseline solutions

TanDEM-X (TerraSAR-X add-on for Digital Elevation Measurement) is the first Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) mission using close formation flying for bistatic SAR interferometry. The primary goal of the mission is to generate a global digital elevation model (DEM) with 2 m height precision and 10 m ground resolution from the configurable SAR interferometer with space baselines of a few hundred meters. As a key mission requirement for the interferometric SAR processing, the relative position, or baseline vector, of the two satellites must be determined with an accuracy of 1 mm (1D RMS) from GPS measurements collected by the onboard receivers. The operational baseline products for the TanDEM-X mission are routinely generated by the German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) and the German Space Operations Center (DLR/GSOC) using different software packages (EPOS/BSW, GHOST) and analysis strategies. For a further independent performance assessment, TanDEM-X baseline solutions are generated at the Astronomical Institute of the University of Bern (AIUB) on a best effort basis using the Bernese Software (BSW).     

Mission simulation as an approach to develop requirements for automation in Advanced Life Support Systems.

This paper examines mission simulation as an approach to develop requirements for automation and robotics for Advanced Life Support Systems (ALSS). The focus is on requirements and applications for command and control, control and monitoring, situation assessment and response, diagnosis and recovery, adaptive planning and scheduling, and other automation applications in addition to mechanized equipment and robotics applications to reduce the excessive human labor requirements to operate and maintain an ALSS. Based on principles of systems engineering, an approach is proposed to assess requirements for automation and robotics using mission simulation tools. First, the story of a simulated mission is defined in terms of processes with attendant types of resources needed, including options for use of automation and robotic systems. Next, systems dynamics models are used in simulation to reveal the implications for selected resource allocation schemes in terms of resources required to complete operational tasks. The simulations not only help establish ALSS design criteria, but also may offer guidance to ALSS research efforts by identifying gaps in knowledge about procedures and/or biophysical processes. Simulations of a planned one-year mission with 4 crewmembers in a Human Rated Test Facility are presented as an approach to evaluation of mission feasibility and definition of automation and robotics requirements.     

分布式SAR超分辨成像的卫星编队构形优化设计方法

编队构形设计是分布式卫星系统总体设计的关键问题,提出了一种编队构形优化设计方法。针对主星带辅星群体制分布式合成孔径雷达(SAR)超分辨率任务,从优化系统效能的角度出发,将满足超分辨性能的时间比率和分辨率改善因子作为编队构形优化设计的目标函数,以基线矢量为中间变量,建立了目标函数与编队卫星轨道根数的关系,并采用遗传算法求解。对不同卫星数目的编队系统进行了优化设计仿真,并与干涉车轮和钟摆编队构形方案进行了分析比较,数值结果验证了该优化设计方法的有效性和正确性。该设计方法还可改变优化目标函数,以适应用户的任务要求。     

Sea state parameters retrieval from cross-polarization Gaofen-3 SAR data

Chinese Gaofen-3 (GF-3) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) acquired in wave mode (WV) and quad-polarization stripmap (QPS) mode default operates in quad-polarization (vertical–vertical (VV), vertical-horizontal (VH), horizontal-horizontal (HH) and horizontal-vertical (HV)) modes. To date, more than GF-3 SAR vignettes following about 110 orbits acquired in WV and QPS mode have been recorded during the mission from April 2016 to December 2017. In the vignettes, ocean surface waves signatures, that are wave-look patterns, are visible in cross-polarization (basically VH). These vignettes are collocated with surface sea state parameters simulated from numerical WAVEWATCH-III (WW3) wave model using a 0.1° grid. There are 11,269 matchups available for studying the relation between sea state parameters and SAR-derived parameters in VH-polarization. A well-known empirical CWAVE model, herein renamed as CPCWAVE_GF3, is adopted for sea state parameter retrieval from GF-3 SAR vignettes with the SAR parameters in the cross-polarization channel. The method yielded a significant correlation coefficient (COR) of 0.79 for wave height (SWH) and 0.72 for second-order cross-zero mean wave period (MWP). Validation against 76 moored buoys resulted in a 0.49 m RMSE of SWH with a 0.21 m scatter index (SI) and validation against 71 moored buoys resulted in a 1.01 s RMSE of MWP with a 0.13 s SI. The comparison of SWH with 116 footprints from the altimeter of Jason-2 also shows a 0.46 m RMSE of SWH with a 0.19 m SI. Our work demonstrates the feasibility of wave retrieval from GF-3 SAR using cross-polarization channels parameters.     

A novel system parameters design and performance analysis method for Distributed Satellite-borne SAR system

As a promising new technology emerged in recent years, the Distributed Satellite-borne SAR (DSS) system with Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) imaging capability has been recognized by the remote sensing community as an integrated part of the spaceborne earth observation system. However, most researches on DSS were focused on individual aspects of system design/analysis and data processing, while few studies have been dedicated to establishing a standard methodological framework for universal DSS system design. Aiming at this problem, the topics of DSS system error analysis and design method are investigated in this paper. Firstly, a rigorous error propagation model of height measurement is theoretically derived from the DSS InSAR imaging geometry, and the impact of each error sources in this model on the height measurement accuracy is analyzed individually. In particular, the baseline length and its measurement error in the InSAR imaging plane are identified as the dominant factors. Second, a new method for DSS system design is proposed based on our analyses with the error propagation model. This method consists of two important phases, namely collaboration design and monostatic design. The major objective of collaboration design is to determine the configuration and parameters for the coordination between satellites in the DSS system. Afterwards, the key parameters for single satellite and the payload are determined by the monostatic design. Thirdly, a system performance analysis method is developed to comprehensively evaluate the performance of the pre-designed DSS system. In the next section, a typical example of DSS system design is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed system design and analysis methods. The target DSS system has the same goal and hardware configuration as the TanDEM-X mission. Finally, the conclusion is drawn with our major findings are presented.     

星载综合孔径雷达设计特点

星载雷达飞行高度高,测绘带宽,因此地球曲率对成像的影响必须考虑;兼之卫星运行轨道偏离理想圆形,雷达离地面高度是个变数,这就使其运动补偿具有自己的特色。其次由于卫星运行速度极快,测绘带又宽,因此星载综合孔径雷达方位和距离模糊问题十分突出。再次,星载综合孔径雷达不满足聚焦深度条件,距离单元位移现象十分突出,必须专门加以校正等等。本文将从上述几方面,探讨星载综合孔径雷达总体设计的特点。     

月面巡视探测器任务规划顶层设计与实现

针对巡视器月面任务规划工程的可实现性,开展了巡视器任务规划顶层设计方法的研究,主要内容包括:任务规划技术特点的梳理与归纳;任务规划输入条件与约束条件的整理,规划变量的统一;任务规划框架的设计,巡视器行为序列与上行控制指令的衔接,针对巡视器行为序列的大模式套用小模式的动态设计等。通过巡视器任务规划工程实现的介绍,说明在巡视器任务规划的顶层设计中,任务的不确定性、部分约束与输入信息的模糊性,是任务规划框架设计以及在后续工程实现过程中需要重点考虑的内容,是与任务规划的工程可实现性直接相关的。     

Deep space environments for human exploration.

Mission scenarios outside the Earth's protective magnetic shield are being studied. Included are high usage assets in the near-Earth environment for casual trips, for research, and for commercial/operational platforms, in which career exposures will be multi-mission determined over the astronaut's lifetime. The operational platforms will serve as launching points for deep space exploration missions, characterized by a single long-duration mission during the astronaut's career. The exploration beyond these operational platforms will include missions to planets, asteroids, and planetary satellites. The interplanetary environment is evaluated using convective diffusion theory. Local environments for each celestial body are modeled by using results from the most recent targeted spacecraft, and integrated into the design environments. Design scenarios are then evaluated for these missions. The underlying assumptions in arriving at the model environments and their impact on mission exposures within various shield materials will be discussed.     

重力卫星星间高精度测距技术研究

卫卫跟踪(SST)技术是当前地球重力场测量最有价值和应用前景的方法之一.高精度星间测距系统是低低卫卫跟踪(SST-ll)重力卫星的关键有效载荷.GRACE卫星携带的K波段测距系统(KBR K Band Ranging System)是一微米量级的测距系统,通过处理高精度的星间距离和距离变化率数据,可以恢复出地球重力场.GRACE后续计划又提出了一种更高精度的激光干涉测距系统.在研究KBR及激光干涉测距系统测量原理的基础上,提出了一种KBR系统的基本结构,详细分析了两种测距系统的关键技术及国内目前的研究水平,提出了我国开展星间测距系统研究的一些建议.      

Hard X-Ray Modulation Telescope(HXMT) Mission

The HXMT mission concept consists of a slat-collimated hard X-ray detector assembly sensitive in 20～250 keV with a collection area of about 5000 cm2. Based on the reconstruction technique by direct demodulation developed in recent years, HXMT is mainly devoted to performing a hard X-ray all-sky imaging survey with both high sensitivity and high spatial resolution. It can also be used to make pointed observations of X-ray sources to study their spectroscopic and temporal properties in details. The main detector of HXMT consists of 18 individual cylindrical NaI(T1)/CsI(Na) phoswich modules, each with anarea of 283.5 cm2 and a field of view of 5.7°× 1.1° (FWHM). Its spatial resolution and position accuracy are 5′ and 1′ by using the direct demodulation in 1994, and in 2000 its feasibility and technical demonstration study was selected as a project under the Major State Basic Research Program of China. In October 2005, this project entered the full design phase and was listed as a candidate for the first dedicated astronomy satellite around 2010. We are now also considering secondary low energy instruments for this satellite.     

Planetary penetrators: Their origins,history and future

Penetrators, which emplace scientific instrumentation by high-speed impact into a planetary surface, have been advocated as an alternative to soft-landers for some four decades. However, such vehicles have yet to fly successfully. This paper reviews in detail, the origins of penetrators in the military arena, and the various planetary penetrator mission concepts that have been proposed, built and flown. From the very limited data available, penetrator developments alone (without delivery to the planet) have required ∼$30M: extensive analytical instrumentation may easily double this. Because the success of emplacement and operation depends inevitably on uncontrollable aspects of the target environment, unattractive failure probabilities for individual vehicles must be tolerated that are higher than the typical ‘3-sigma’ (99.5%) values typical for spacecraft. The two pathways to programmatic success, neither of which are likely in an austere financial environment, are a lucky flight as a ‘piggyback’ mission or technology demonstration, or with a substantial and unprecedented investment to launch a scientific (e.g. seismic) network mission with a large number of vehicles such that a number of terrain-induced failures can be tolerated.     

飞行控制系统余度方案设计的决策支持系统

本系统是示范工程ＦＣＳ－ＣＩＭＳ（飞行控制系统－计算机集成制造系统）技术可行性论证系统的一个子系统,它是基于数据库,辅助决策者针对数字式飞行控制系统硬件相似余度方案设计的决策支持系统。它建立了以分层型结构为基础的决策支持系统的总体框架;应用余度技术领域专家的知识,建立了余度模型库;系统考虑了可维修性指标与可用度指标;提出了以综合考虑系统重量、体积、成本与技术风险度等指标的多目标专家评估法为基础的决     

Generic procedure for designing and implementing plan management systems for space science missions operations

This paper is one of the components of a larger framework of activities whose purpose is to improve the performance and productivity of space mission systems, i.e. to increase both what can be achieved and the cost effectiveness of this achievement. Some of these activities introduced the concept of Functional Architecture Module (FAM); FAMs are basic blocks used to build the functional architecture of Plan Management Systems (PMS). They also highlighted the need to involve Science Operations Planning Expertise (SOPE) during the Mission Design Phase (MDP) in order to design and implement efficiently operation planning systems. We define SOPE as the expertise held by people who have both theoretical and practical experience in operations planning, in general, and in space science operations planning in particular. Using ESA’s methodology for studying and selecting science missions we also define the MDP as the combination of the Mission Assessment and Mission Definition Phases. However, there is no generic procedure on how to use FAMs efficiently and systematically, for each new mission, in order to analyse the cost and feasibility of new missions as well as to optimise the functional design of new PMS; the purpose of such a procedure is to build more rapidly and cheaply such PMS as well as to make the latter more reliable and cheaper to run. This is why the purpose of this paper is to provide an embryo of such a generic procedure and to show that the latter needs to be applied by people with SOPE during the MDP. The procedure described here proposes some initial guidelines to identify both the various possible high level functional scenarii, for a given set of possible requirements, and the information that needs to be associated with each scenario. It also introduces the concept of catalogue of generic functional scenarii of PMS for space science missions. The information associated with each catalogued scenarii will have been identified by the above procedure and will be relevant only for some specific mission requirements. In other words, each mission that shares the same type of requirements that lead to a list of specific catalogued scenarii can use this latter list of scenarii (regardless of whether the mission is a plasma, planetary, astronomy, etc. mission). The main advantages of such a catalogue are that it speeds-up the execution of the procedure and makes the latter more reliable. Ultimately, the information associated to each relevant scenario (from the catalogue or freshly generated by the procedure) will then be used by mission designers to make informed decisions, including the modification of the mission requirements, for any missions. In addition, to illustrate the use of such a procedure, the latter is applied to a case study, i.e. the Cross-Scale mission. One of the outcomes of this study is an initial set of generic functional scenarii. Finally, although border line with the above purpose of this paper, we also discuss multi-spacecraft specific issues and issues related to the on-board execution of the plan update system (PUS). In particular, we show that the operation planning cost of N spacecraft is not equal to N times the cost of 1 spacecraft and that on-board non-synchronised operation will not require inter-spacecraft communication. We also believe that on-board PUS should be made possible for all missions as a standard.     

“嫦娥4号”中继星任务分析与系统设计

作为"嫦娥4号"任务的重要组成部分,中继星将为着陆器和巡视器提供中继通信支持。不同于其它月球探测器,中继星首次选择了绕地月L2平动点运行的晕(Halo)轨道以保证对月球背面的着陆器和巡视器提供连续的中继通信服务,面临诸多技术挑战。在对中继星任务特点进行分析的基础上,梳理了研制中的技术难题,包括使命轨道的选择、使命轨道的到达和长期维持、中继通信体制选择等,并提出了解决方案。中继星的总体设计方案概述也在文中给出。